


The Kicker

by things_that_matter



Series: CMBYN: Life with Ollie [44]
Category: Call Me By Your Name (2017), Call Me By Your Name - All Media Types, Call Me by Your Name - André Aciman
Genre: Brothers, Cobra Kai Dojo, Comfort, Domestic Fluff, Family Drama, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Karate, M/M, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 23:39:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29583873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/things_that_matter/pseuds/things_that_matter
Summary: After a karate demonstration at his school, Ollie wants to attend.
Relationships: Oliver/Elio Perlman
Series: CMBYN: Life with Ollie [44]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2094873
Comments: 7
Kudos: 16





	The Kicker

**Author's Note:**

> No, of course I didn't binge all three seasons of Cobra Kai during the winter storm.

When Oliver saw Ollie scampering out of the school building, he smiled to himself. Ollie only had two kinds of school days. Good days, and bad days. He never had an _okay_ day. This is one of the things Oliver loved and admired about Ollie. In his own childhood, if one of his parents asked how his day was, his answer was usually one word: okay, fine, or so-so. Ollie just didn’t ascribe to that manner of experiencing life. Oliver also loved Ollie’s eagerness to talk about his day. When his own parents asked him what he did at school, his answer was always the same: nothing. Ollie was the opposite. Oliver rarely had the opportunity to ask how his day was, because he began describing it straightaway. Oliver knew that Elio sometimes felt guilty because Oliver had all of the responsibilities in the afternoon such as picking up Ollie, making dinner, and helping Ollie with homework. But, although he never said so, he also felt a little bit guilty, because these moments with Ollie were precious. Of course, he would also tell his brother about his day when Elio got home, but rarely with that initial excitement.

“...and it was so super duper COOL!!” Ollie was saying as he tossed in his backpack and then climbed into the backseat. 

Oliver shook his head and chuckled amiably. “Ollie, when you begin your sentence before opening the car door, I can’t hear you, buddy,” he explained. Yet again.

Ollie buckled his seatbelt and then took three calming breaths before beginning again. “Kickers came to school today! And they showed us the coolest stuff and it was so super duper cool!!” 

Oliver lifted his eyes toward the rear-view mirror as if there would be some sort of explanation there, but there wasn’t. “Kickers?” 

“Yeah!! Real, actual _kickers_!!” Ollie nodded. 

“What are _kickers_?” Oliver hated to ask. He preferred to be viewed as all-knowing. 

Ollie scrunched his nose. He thought this should be self-explanatory. “They kick.” 

Oliver almost sighed, but he didn’t. He didn’t want to dampen Ollie’s excitement. So instead, he went with his old standby, “Tell me more.” 

Ollie adored this phrase! “They came and did a kicking demonstration for the entire class! They can kick so high it’s amazing!”

“So, soccer players? Football? Dancers?” 

Ollie sighed. “ _Kickers._ ” Because Oliver apparently needed a visual aid, Ollie kicked the best he could while strapped down by a seatbelt. It wasn’t particularly helpful, but the “HI-YA!!” he added did provide some elucidation. 

Oliver nodded slowly, showing that he was now following. “So it was a taekwondo demonstration?”

“No, no, no,” Ollie was becoming put out. “Karate!” 

“Well, that does sound fun. I’m glad you had a good day,” Oliver was relieved to have learned what a kicker was, but he knew nothing about karate, and didn’t have much to add. 

“And some of them could break a real board! And they weren’t fake like a magic trick. We got to feel them and they were for sure _real_ _boards_. Made out of _wood_.” 

Oliver briefly flicked his eyes up into the mirror again to see Ollie still beaming. 

“There are punchers, too, but they didn’t show any punching today. But guess what? You’ll never guess. But try. Try to guess. Just try,” Ollie was really getting excited about the next part. 

“I give up,” Oliver said, smiling. 

“I got invited to go to a kicking party for FREE!!! Everyone got invited... even _ME!_ ” Ollie was now unzipping his backpack. He quickly produced a blue flyer, and began tapping Oliver on the arm with it. 

“Ollie, I am driving right now. We are almost home, and I want to see it.” 

Ollie nodded. He didn’t want to wait, but he understood about driving because both Oliver and Elio said the same thing every time he tried to show them something while they were driving. Ollie decided that when he grew up, he was going to take taxis or have a limo. “HIIII YA!!!” Ollie yelled. 

Oliver shuddered, slightly startled, but they were pulling into the driveway so he let it go. 

When they got inside, Oliver took a look at the flyer. While he was looking at it, Ollie bounced up and down excitedly, discarding his things on the floor just inside the door. After so many months, Oliver still hadn’t been able to teach Ollie to put his things away, but by now he only had to look pointedly in that direction and Ollie would quickly comply. Today, though, Ollie was too excited and continued to bounce around. “Watch this!” Ollie said, giving a rather impressive side kick. 

“That’s really cool,” Oliver said, and he genuinely thought it was. 

“So can I go?” Ollie wanted to know. 

“Go where?” 

Ollie pointed to the flyer. “It’s free,” he reminded Oliver. 

Oliver looked doubtful. “Oh Ollie, I don’t know. Elio and I will have to talk about this.” 

Ollie stopped bouncing. He was suddenly a deflated soccer ball.

By the time Elio got home, Ollie’s enthusiasm was renewed. He demonstrated his kicking skills for his big brother. He was delighted to discover that he could kick faster and harder when he was not strapped in by a seatbelt. 

“That’s pretty awesome,” Elio said, but Ollie noticed that he had the same dubious look on his face that Oliver had worn earlier. Ollie didn’t understand it. Who wouldn’t be excited about a _free_ kicking party?? 

Ollie jumped up and down like a spring. With each upward bounce he said, “Please, please, please, please…” and eventually he stopped bouncing and finished with, “please can I go?” 

Elio looked toward Oliver and Oliver shrugged as if to say, _it’s your call._ Ollie knew the look, so he kept his puppy dog eyes glued to his brother. When he received no answer, he said again, more earnestly this time, “Please?” 

“Ollie, I don’t know…” he began, but the look on his face changed from reluctance to grim determination when he saw Ollie’s reaction. A deep scowl had fallen over his face. His arms were straight and taut at his sides, and at the bottom of them were two angry little fists. 

“I’m going no matter what!!” Ollie growled through gritted teeth, and then he turned on his heel and stomped to his room. 

Elio and Oliver looked at one another with dismay as they heard the door slam followed by a loud, angry, “HIIII YAAAA!!!” 

After enduring a long lecture from Elio about more productive ways to deal with life’s disappointments and frustrations, along with a much shorter lecture from Oliver about the unpleasant consequences he could expect if he threw another tantrum like that, Ollie finally went to bed where at least he could dream about karate, which he did all night. The only positive thing was that in the end, after he had survived the lectures and warnings, Elio did promise to at least think about allowing him to go to the ‘kicking party.’ 

That night, while Ollie lay in his bed dreaming of becoming a kicker and puncher, Elio and Oliver lay in bed, too. Elio was on his back, staring at the ceiling, looking contemplative and gloomy. Oliver watched him for the longest time. Finally he asked, “What are you thinking about, Elio?” 

“Nothing.” 

Oliver smiled because clearly Elio was thinking about something, and of course he already knew what that something was. 

Fortunately, Elio continued after a pause, “Am I wrong? For not wanting him to go?” 

Oliver reached over and brushed a finger gently across Elio’s lower lip, making him smile briefly before turning onto his side, facing Oliver. 

Oliver kissed him softly, briefly. “Why don’t you want him to?” 

“I don’t know,” Elio answered. 

“Well then I don’t know if you’re wrong,” Oliver answered simply. Elio understood what he meant by this. Oliver wanted him to explore his concerns and motivations before making a decision, and that seemed reasonable to him. 

Elio placed his hand on Oliver’s chest, feeling his heart beating steadily. Oliver placed his hand over Elio’s and after a moment, their fingers intertwined. Neither of them knew who initiated it. When they lay like this, they became so closely entwined both in body and soul, that Elio sometimes couldn’t tell where Oliver began and he himself ended. 

“You’re so beautiful,” Oliver said to him. Elio put a finger over Oliver’s lips to silence him, and the desire they felt for each other heightened. Elio didn’t want to be complimented. He didn’t want to _talk_ at all, and what he did next made that perfectly clear to Oliver. 

The following morning, Ollie sat at the table gazing at the waffles in front of him. They were drenched in strawberry sauce and real whipped cream, his favorite. To Ollie, the best thing about Saturday was the fact that Oliver was home in the morning and would usually make him whatever he wanted for breakfast. But today he didn’t feel like eating. Elio and Oliver were talking casually about their plans for the weekend, trying to pretend there wasn’t a little stormcloud sitting at the table with them.

Eventually, though, it was too much to ignore so Oliver asked, “Ollie, is something wrong with your waffle?”

Ollie shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I’m just not hungry. Can I eat it later?” 

“Sure. What’s wrong?” he asked next. 

Ollie’s lip poked out as if cued. “Elio yelled at me yesterday.” 

Elio looked perplexed, squinting from Ollie to Oliver. He had plenty of shortcomings, but he was a soft-spoken person. Oliver knew this, of course, so he was confused, too. “When did Elio yell at you?” he asked. 

“And you yelled at me, too!” Ollie whined. 

Oliver nodded. He understood now. “You mean because we talked to you about stomping down the hallway and slamming the door?” 

Ollie was suddenly interested in his food, not wishing to revisit the previous lectures. 

Oliver continued though, “Could it be that it only felt like yelling because you were upset?” 

Ollie shrugged. “Maybe,” he conceded. 

“I understand that,” Oliver said sensibly. “I sometimes felt that way when I was a kid, too. But we weren’t yelling at you, right?” 

“I guess not.” Ollie shoveled in a huge bite of waffle, deeply disinterested in discussing this further.

Elio sat passively by, watching the interaction in awe. Oliver astonished him at times. He always seemed to know exactly what to say in any situation. 

“Well, I called the karate dojo this morning,” Oliver said next, and Ollie looked up from his plate, casting hopeful, pleading eyes in his direction. “After finding out a lot more about martial arts from them, and doing some research on our own, we are going to let you go to the free class. No promises, but it won’t hurt anything for us to all go and find out more.” 

Ollie’s hopeful expression turned to one of mild confusion. “Free class?” he asked. 

“The free kicking party,” Oliver clarified and then watched Ollie’s face light up.

“Hooray!!!” Ollie jumped up, full of enthusiasm. Elio and Oliver smiled at each other. 

“It’s in two hours, so when you finish here, you can go get dressed,” Elio said. 

“Can I be finished?” Ollie turned his puppy dog eyes toward his big brother. 

“Sure,” Elio said and then laughed as Ollie ran down the hallway yelling “HI YA!” 

Elio and Oliver looked at each other for a moment, and then both started laughing. “Should I call him back to take care of his plate?” Elio asked. 

Oliver shook his head. “Nah. They promised me that if he enrolls in classes, he will become more responsible. Maybe he’ll even stop throwing his things on the floor after school.” 

“Maybe,” Elio agreed. But then they both laughed again, knowing that was too much to ask. 


End file.
